China's growing middle class now demands cleaner air... while Beijing's bureaucrats are working furiously to balance growth with pollution.

In March, China cracked down on polluting and wasteful cars using heavy-consumption taxes against cars with the biggest engines. Tax rates for big cars are nearly seven times higher than for the smallest ones. Adding 20 percent to the cost of an SUV is steering consumers away. Also, within two years China will mandate the strictest fuel-economy standards in the world forcing manufacturers to top every other industrialized nation. (Reuters)

A growing number of couples who get married later in life find they don't need wedding gifts to furnish their home nor want gifts that provide a more lavish lifestyle. Instead, they are setting up gift registries for charities. New Web sites make it easy for couples to collect money for their favorite causes …

For instance, Justgive.org offers to engaged couples a Charitable Wedding Center for creating a customized Web page that encourages contributions to their favorite charities. JustGive offers more than 1 million charities to choose from, including national and local organizations and can be used alone or in addition to traditional gift registries. (AP)

Five-time Grammy winning R&B artist Usher pulled on some work gloves, grabbed a pair of trimmers and chopped away at a patch of vines that had overtaken a fence at a New Orleans school shuttered by Hurricane Katrina.

(June 9) Russia said Friday it plans to write off about $700 million in debt owed by the poorest countries - a move reflecting its soaring oil-fueled wealth and a desire for equal footing with the world's top industrialized nations. (Seattle PI)